3.27.2012

When we moved to our new home, I asked Hero what color he wanted his room and he didn't even hesitate to say, "Green. Dark green." After some persuading I got him to get excited to about these stripes. We both won with him getting dark green, and me getting to do stripes!

The other 3 walls are a light grey.

I also just finished these curtains for the room. I decided that I wanted to introduce more colors into the room, and this orange is great!

I like the way they look with the sun shinning through.

I did three rows of stitching on the top and bottom of the orange cuff.

I love the way the room is coming together. I've got more coming with getting ready for the new baby. I can't wait to show you!

3.19.2012

My little Pretty turned 2 a couple weeks ago! I can't believe it, but then don't we moms say that about every birthday our kids have?

On the day of their birthday, Jake and I like to have a large bag of balloons blown up with a new toy in the middle of it all for the kids (like Hero's birthday pig). For Pretty this year, it was this new set up.

Last summer, I found a listing for these three wooden toys for $5. Total score! I'll share the make overs of the other two later, but today it's about the ironing board.

It was in rough shape. It looked like it had never been painted, just primed, and not even all over... And the previous owner had colored on the top with pencils.

So, I sanded it down,

and spray painted the whole thing white with a combo primer/paint spray.

It sat in our play room like that for the past six months. Then, one day while I was ironing a ton of fabric for curtains, Hero told me we needed an iron for the toy ironing board. I considered making one, but found this awesome homemade wooden iron on Etsy for a good price! (She's got a ton of cool wooden toys, you should check it out.)

I decided last minute to make this simple cover for the board out of flannel I had hanging around because the thought of the wood rubbing on the wood made me worry about it scratching.

Man, she is adorable! But she was so busy jumping with the balloons that this fuzzy picture was all I could get of her with the iron before the hopped off again!

3.02.2012

For this past Christmas, I decided to make Pretty a big doll, and Santa brought her a little cradle for her doll to sleep in!

I found the cradle at a discount outlet store for a company that does monogrammed things. This store is where all the mistakes go. Poor mom of "Reese", who ordered this and it came back upside down. Oops.

I bought it with the intention of peeling off the vinyl lettering and being done with it. It was only a few days before Christmas when I realized that the letters were engraved about 1/8" down! I wasn't looking forward to sanding it down and painting over it. That's when my awesome husband said, "why don't you just put paper over it?"

Bless him!!

Technically, his idea included normal old copy paper. But I only used it for the template, and chose a scrapbook paper for the final look.

I smooshed the copy paper into the space, then cut it out so it fit.

Then I used it to trace on the back of the scrapbook paper. I used ModPodge to stick it down and repeated it on the second side.

I also made a mattress for the cradle using some left over 1" foam and spare fabric.

I love it!

As for the baby, I was hoping this one would replace her favorite toys and be all she played with! Not so much. Maybe when her new baby brother comes in June?

So far the only thing this baby does is sleep. Christmas morning, she opened the cradle first, since it is from Santa. As soon as she opened the "baby" it went in to the cradle and that's where it has stayed for the past 2 months. Not even joking.

Sadly, she doesn't quite fit, unless you squish her legs.

Also, a funny thing. Hero watched me make the doll while Pretty napped. He even handed me pins while cutting out the fabric (and oh my, did that take forever. "Do you want red, or blue, or purple?" with every pin!) Anyway, it wasn't until he pointed it out that I noticed I was using the same purple fabric for this doll's dress as I did for last year's Christmas doll. Hmmmm.

Pretty's birthday is next week (2 years!) and I'm planning on making a blanket and pillow for the bed. Maybe for next Christmas, she'll get another dress for the baby. . . that's not the same purple?